Development of cell-seeded patellar tendon allografts for anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction.

Patellar tendon (PT) allografts for anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) reconstruction are potentially immunogenic and incorporate slowly compared with autografts. Our tissue-engineering approach to improve allograft efficacy is to (1) remove intrinsic cells from the graft to reduce antigenicity and then (2) seed the graft with extrinsic cells to improve ligamentization. To remove cells, tendons were soaked in 1% extraction solutions of tri(n-butyl)phosphate (TBP) or sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) for various time periods (24-72 h) and rinsed exhaustively.

Regenerative versus reparative healing in tendon: a study of biomechanical and histological properties in fetal sheep.

Previous studies have shown fetal tissues heal in a regenerative fashion without scar formation. The objective of this study is to compare the healing properties of adult and fetal tendons. Time-mated pregnant ewes at 80-85 days of gestation were utilized.